Fisherfolk slam THA over oil-spill compensation

THE Tobago Unified Fisherfolk Association has criticised Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) over the lack of compensation for fishermen affected by the February 7, 2024 oil spill.

The oil spill caused significant damage to around 15 kilometres of Tobago's south-western coastline, after the Gulfstream barge capsized off the coast of Cove, leaking bunker fuel into the sea.

Fishermen were barred from plying their trade close to the affected areas during the clean-up, which took months.

In June 2024, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced $50 million to the THA to deal with the costs associated with the oil spill. Augustine said this was inadequate, noting that the THA had asked for $153 million.

In a media conference on January 20, (TUFA) representative Allyson Thomas said several members of their organisation, which she said comprises about 40 to 50 people, have received no compensation from the THA.

"Tobago Unified Fisherfolk Association received nothing. The fishermen who you are seeing (standing) behind (me) here, received nothing."

Thomas said the effects of the oil spill are still being felt.

"As the sea rough, it coming up. If yuh go and bathe in Lambeau, yuh see yuh toe cuticles – is oil. This is a long-lasting thing."

She said some fishermen received a one-time $1,000 relief grant (from the THA), but about half of the fishermen in their organisation received nothing.

"We have been bullied from the past straight into the future with (lack of information)...They hold back info to keep us ignorant, to keep us dumb and to keep us dependent on them," she said.

She said Augustine has failed as a leader.

Recalling a meeting at Shaw Park with Lambeau fishermen, she said Augustine had announced "a $1,000 voucher so fisherfolk could get some access to food and so on."

However, she claimed he does not respond to their e-mails and text messages.

"He doh really care about fishermen," she surmised.

"Who asked you for $1,000?

"Fishermen say they have rent to pay, loan to pay and house to maintain... and you telling me $1,000? You ain't doing us any favour...It's a total insult!"

Thomas said fisherfolk who worked cleaning the oil spill were treated inferior. She claimed food sent to them came from caterers at the hospital, while the "big caterers" fed staff from the Tobago Emergency Management Agency and the big contractors.

Recalling an October 2024 letter from the UK-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, Thomas said she was concerned about who was in charge of the compensation for fishermen. She said that letter described $1,000 given to fishermen as compensation and not relief.

The government has sent two claims to the IOPC for oil-spill compensation.

TEMA director Allan Stewart told Newsday in November that there were over 160 claims for compensation by Tobago fisherfolk. He said the vetting of the claims caused a delay in processing.

He said, "The number of claims that were sent in, they have to go through a process, It's not just what a person says. The burden of proof is with the claimant to provide evidence of loss of earnings or loss (of equipment). They have to provide that info to process that."

On the issue of claims for compensation, Thomas said, "It have some fishermen do not fish around this area. Every man has to do an introspection and know who will claim for what happened in Scarborough and Lambeau.

"This is the lobster ground., What about the crab catchers... the stakeholders, the vendors feeding off the back of the fishermen? What about the vendors that you relocate?"

She is calling for a public meeting with Augustine to address the matter.

"We want the honourable Farley Augustine to come and face us. We don't want him behind closed doors in no meeting. Let he come back on the ground from where we pick him up and put him there. Let him come here and face us...

"You supposed to be leading by example, not curry-favouring...But I telling you now – you eh getting my vote again."

While acknowledging that some fishermen are poor at keeping records, she empathised with them.

"Yes they are ignorant in the fact that they don’t do (proper) bookkeeping, but they go out in the sea from half three in the morning and come back at six (at night). And yuh come back and want them do book wuk?"

She criticised Wane Clarke, electoral representative for Lambeau/Lowlands, for not advocating for fisherfolk in his district.

"Where is he? Silent on this matter from day one. Nowhere to be found. He attended a meeting and said nothing. You are sitting inside there in the division, you need to say something."

On the issue of compensation, captain Barry St George, owner of Hog Snapper boat, estimated his damage at near $100,000. However, he said he is only claiming for $24,000.

He said he usually goes to Trinidad to buy bait, which takes him about two to three days both ways. He said when he was returning to Tobago he inadvertently drove the boat though the oil spill.

"I had no clue it was there, and every bait in my bait-well (a tank to circulate fresh water for live bait) died. A thousand dollars in ice, $2,000 in fuel. I have to start over from the very beginning. I can't go fishing because I have no bait. I burn out all the fuel."

In another incident, he said he was drift fishing one night, around 30-40 miles offshore, and drifted into the oil spill, which also resulted again in his bait-well being compromised.

He said the anti-fouling paint on the base of his boat to keep barnacles and moss from growing there was also affected.

"It cost me $25,000 to paint the bottom of my boat. On those two occasions, I could quantify my loss reasonably as close to $100,000. I know I not getting $100,000 so I quantify it as loss of two sets of bait – $4,000 – and $10,000 in fishing time, money and fuel (for each occasion). Twenty-four thousand dollars is all I want.

"As far as who get compensation and who ain't get compensation from this oil spill, nobody ever come and ask any of us what we went though. Nobody ain't sit down and watch me in my face and say, 'Well, Mr St George, what happened to you?'"

"They tell you full out a form quick, quick, and send it in. So yuh full out the form and waiting to hear back... Never hear anything. Next thing yuh hear nobody getting compensation and they keeping the $50 million for themselves."

Newsday messaged Augustine via WhatsApp for a response, but he did not respond up to the time of publication. Clarke also did not respond to a call to his cellphone.